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Sports stars, celebrities and even cryptocurrency they all have rookie cards… but does Santa Claus? It’s a question you can ask yourself after you’ve consumed a little too much nutmeg. And since the season of giving is officially here, I want to spread some holiday cheer by highlighting Christmas-themed trading cards, which is a bigger niche than you may realize.
So let’s dive into a fun corner of the trading card world, one dominated by the GOAT of gift giving: Old St. Nick.
A brief history of Santa’s trading cards
An 1891 Woolson Spice card. (Photo: eBay)
There is no concrete origin story for Santa Claus trading cards, but some of the first examples in the United States date back to the late 1800s. Ohio-based company Woolson Spice created several artistic Christmas cards featuring Santa Claus sits around the tree with children or on his sled. Woolson Spice used the backs of the cards to advertise its products, such as Lion Coffee.
There is technically no card from the 19th century that is considered Santa’s “true” rookie card among the collecting community, but one of his best-known cards from that era can be found in the 1890 Duke Holidays set. popular tobacco company produced a set of 50 cards containing three Christmas cards, but only the American variant featured Santa Claus. According to the Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA) assessed population report, the company has authenticated fewer than 15 copies. An example of the map is even in the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1890 Duke Holidays Christmas, US card. (Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art)
It’s fascinating to see the evolution of Santa Claus, from how he was portrayed then, compared to now. Many early postcards showed a thinner version, sometimes dressed in a vegetable or brown suit. It was Coca-Cola advertisements Beginning in the early 1930s, the image of Santa Claus we have today was reinforced (although it was political cartoonist Thomas Nast who to arise it in the 1860s). And yes, there are trading cards with those old Coca-Cola ads that were made in the 1990s.
In the late 1980s, the popularity of the sports card industry exploded and more and more sets began to be produced. One of the first Santa cards to catch the attention of modern collectors is the iconic one Pro Set Football Card from 1989. The promotional card was given to card shop owners and dealers during the holiday season and could not be removed from the packs, increasing demand for it.
Pro Set promotional card from 1989. (Photo: eBay)
The front of the card lists Santa Claus as “player-coach” and shows him wearing a baseball cap with his own name and a red satin jacket emblazoned with the NFL logo. Inexplicably, he holds up the exact same trading card he’s on, creating a baffling card-receiving loop. Behind Santa Claus, through a snow-covered window, are two Pro Set managers dressed as elves (Leaf recreated this card in 2021 with a selection of notable figures instead, ranging from Donald Trump to Pele, which can complicate the search for the more valuable original). The back of the card contains Santa’s essential details and a scouting report.
It was such a success that Pro Set started posting Santa cards in his sets from 1990 onwards. These were all printed in much larger quantities, making them easy to obtain today, but the ’89 card is still highly sought after, with ‘gem mint’ PSA 10 certified copies selling for around $500 to $750 to be sold.
As the sports card industry continued to innovate in the 1990s, it opened up new opportunities to celebrate the holidays through autograph and memorabilia cards. One of the first signed cards of Santa Claus can be found in Pro Line Portraits from 1991 with the rarest version limited to 200 copies.
In 1998, Upper Deck produced an oversized one Kris Kringle promo card with a velvety red “holiday worn sweater” piece that was exclusive to the company’s Collector’s Club members. The card can be found on eBay for about $20.
In 2007, Topps created its most extensive offering to date, with a special Santa Claus holiday set which includes 18 cards, all featuring Santa versions of Topps’ most popular designs of all time, including a Kris Kringle relic card, an autograph card and a rookie card that pays tribute to Mickey Mantle’s famous 1952 Topps card. Instead of being a “Topps Certified Autograph,” the signed card in this set is a “Topps Santafied Autograph,” with the back of the card reading, “Santa has this card himself signed with the same pen he uses to make his list of all the cards. the naughty and nice children around the world.” The back of the relic card, which features a piece of Santa’s suit, reads: “Topps purchased this suit from Santa himself, who requested that it be distributed as far and wide as possible so that everyone can share a piece of his holiday spirit.” could have to cherish and revisit whenever they want.”
Topps holiday set from 2007. (Photo: eBay)
In recent years, Topps has produced more Santa autographs and relic cards for its holiday baseball sets (more on that in a minute), but the reveals have become decidedly less whimsical. “The relic on this card doesn’t come from anywhere,” says the back of the card an offer from 2019.
Over the past decade, the hobby’s annual releases of Christmas sets have yielded more Santa trading cards than ever before. In the latest releases of the Topps Holiday sets, collectors can pull rare chase cards of other classic North Pole characters such as Mrs. Claus, Frosty the Snowman, the Gingerbread Man and more.
Holiday themed sports sets
The sports card industry offers a number of Christmas-themed sets that bring a seasonal feel to collecting, with unique player-worn Christmas jersey cards and festive super-short print variations.
The main baseball card release around this festive time of year is Topps Holiday. First produced in 2016, the set features holiday-inspired designs from the rookies and stars of the MLB, where you can find hidden elves, snowflakes and Christmas lights on cards. Collectors can pull autograph cards, player-worn Santa hat relics, and the aforementioned rare Santa relic/car cards. Topps Holiday sets are exclusive retail items found online and in stores like this one Goal And Walmart.
2024 Topps Holiday Bobby Witt, Jr. image variation. (Photo: eBay)
A few years after the first Topps Holiday release, Panini, which produces NFL and NBA licensed trading cards, began offering Hoops Basketball and Donruss Football holiday-themed sets that have also become popular with collectors. In 2022, Donruss Football Panini released a visually stunning version Sinterklaas center insert. There is still huge demand for the ultra-rare case hit (traditionally there was only one Downtown insert per few hundred packs), with PSA 10 copies selling for over $1,500. This card’s unique “Clearly Donruss Holo” parallel sold for $3,234.71 in June of this year — an all-time high for a Santa Claus card, according to CardLadder’s database, which tracks ticket sales on major online marketplaces.
I would consider these products to be more collector-oriented, with less monetary value on average than many other sets, but they offer plenty of chase cards and autograph relics from top rookies and stars that can still fetch hundreds of dollars. PSA 10 Topps Holiday base rookie cards of superstars like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are selling for over $100.
Classic holiday movie trading cards
This A Christmas Story card signed by Peter Billingsley sold for $750. (Photo: eBay)
One of my favorite holiday traditions is kicking back with a glass of eggnog and watching Christmas movies – a genre that is now making its way into trading card formats. This year, actor Chevy Chase released a Christmas Vacation 35th anniversary box set which offers signed Griswold family cards and personally used Chevy Chase relic cards. The limited edition release of 300 boxes sold out quickly, but a few have ended up on eBay.
Cryptozoic entertainment and Marquee Trading Cards recently released a similar one set based on the beloved holiday film “A Christmas Story” to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film’s release. Collectors have the chance to collect single and double autograph cards signed by the cast, hand-drawn sketch cards and serialized chase cards. Sealed boxes are available on eBay for about $130 and a 1/1 Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) autograph card inscribed “I want a Red Ryder!” has already been removed from a package and sold for a penny shy of $1,000.
Billingsley too signed cards for Leafsome with an “Oh fudge” inscription that sell for $99 each — just what someone might say after their loved ones find out they spent $99 on a Ralphie autographed card.
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(Top photo: Stephen Pond/Getty Images)